According to a news release this month, Microsoft Education is debuting a task-management and teamworking app called Microsoft Loop, launching a new professional development course on the platform Microsoft Learn, and making several other tools more widely available. The company’s Reading Coach, introduced in 2022 to help educators create customized literacy lesson plans and personalized reading practice exercises, is now available for free as a Windows app and integrated with Canvas so it’s easier for teachers to use. The AI chatbot Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available to all faculty and students in higher education, though it had already launched in August 2023 for an unspecified number of faculty and staff.
The news release said Copilot so far has been adopted by a few international entities, including the University of Hong Kong, the University of Manchester, and GEMS Education in U.A.E.
In addition, the company said Microsoft Teams for Education will add a feature later this year called Classwork, with which teachers can create and organize teaching materials and assignments. It will also update the Microsoft Reflect program, designed for teachers to tailor lesson plans for personalized learning, and make it generally available for free.
